Growing BIPV market allows owners to utilize architectural building products with integrated photovoltaic materials to capitalize on dual-function. A broad range of standardized building components are available ranging from curtainwall, rainscreen facades, skylights, and roofing to sun-shading louvers, canopies and pavers. Virtually any applicable surface that receives significant solar irradiance can incorporate photovoltaic materials. Architects now have the option to produce designs that serve the primary functions of sculpting space, and controlling moisture, air, sound and light while producing clean electric power.

There was a time not too long ago when Starchitects and mainstream designers alike felt the need to look to European made building products to get the latest innovations. Not so any longer – USA manufacturers equal or rival their European counterparts in technological advancements and quality.

No need to trek to the Netherlands for phenolic cladding when Vivix by Formica is now made in North America. Formica has actually been producing and supplying the material in Europe for over 15 years, but now has panel manufacturing and project fabrication stateside. http://www.vivixusa.com/

Some may be convinced that Dominique Perrault put woven metals on the architectural map with the Bibliothèque Nationale de France project; however, the 100 year old Maryland based company Cambridge has been providing architectural metal mesh dating back to the Seagram Building, New York, circa 1958 – Mies van der Rohe in collaboration with Phillip Johnson. The original mesh is still in high quality service today. http://cambridgearchitectural.com/